Hardwick winery owner overpowers burglary suspect

Thursday

Nov 21, 2013 at 7:04 PM

By Kim Ring, TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

EAST BROOKFIELD — A Vermont man who allegedly crashed a wine tasting posing as a magazine photographer, then returned to the Hardwick Vineyard and Winery in Hardwick days later, stole several items and got into a fight with the business owner is being held on $10,000 bail.

Joseph T. Kenvin, 56, of Enosburg, Vt., was arraigned Nov. 15 in Western Worcester District Court in East Brookfield on charges brought by Hardwick police.

Police said Mr. Kenvin had a shotgun in his vehicle and a knife on him when winery owner John Samek found his car parked behind the winery on Greenwich Road around 7 p.m. Nov. 14.

Mr. Kenvin, clad in camouflage, was loading tools from the winery shed and toys from a sandbox into his vehicle, a police report said. When Mr. Samek confronted him, Mr. Kenvin aggressively came toward him, police said.

They said Mr. Kenvin punched and kicked Mr. Samek several times, but eventually Mr. Samek was able to hold Mr. Kenvin on the ground and tie his hands with a belt. Then he retrieved a phone and called police, court documents said. As Mr. Kenvin again became aggressive, a neighbor stopped and helped Mr. Samek hold him down, the report said.

Mr. Samek told police that Mr. Kenvin apologized several times and promised to leave if Mr. Samek would let him go.

Mr. Samek said that only after the incident did he realize that Mr. Kenvin had been at a wine tasting the previous Saturday and had been asked to leave after he refused to pay for the wine samples he had consumed.

Mr. Kenvin was arrested and arraigned on Nov. 15 on charges of breaking and entering in the nighttime with the intent to commit a felony, larceny from a building, trespassing, disorderly conduct, improper storage of a firearm, assault and battery, receiving stolen property, disturbing the peace and carrying a firearm without a license.

Police said he told them he was staying with a friend on Collins Road and was stealing the items to get back to Vermont. The report said he planned to give the stolen toys to his grandchildren.

He is due back in court Dec. 17.

Contact Kim Ring at kring@telegram.com. Follow her on Twitter @kimmring